Battle of Suomussalmi

The Battle of Suomussalmi was a major battle of the Winter War, fought between the Soviet Union and Finland from 7 December 1939 to 8 January 1940. The Finns destroyed two Red Army divisions in a major counterattack and captured 43 tanks and much Russian equipment, leading to Stalin sending Semyon Timoshenko to crush the Finns in the aftermath of the Suomussalmi debacle.

Background
The Winter War started on 30 November 1939 with a massive Soviet invasion of Finland, pitting 700,000 Red Army troops against a mere 150,000 Finnish Army troops. The Soviet 9th Army advanced towards the Gulf of Bothnia and pushed into Karelia, but the Finns would hold off their assaults. In December 1939, the Finns launched a series of counterattacks on the Karelian front, and their ski troops penetrated the Soviet lines as the Finnish forces began to rout the Soviet divisions.

Battle
The most important and famous battle of the war occurred at Suomussalmi, where the Finns faced two tank divisions and one tank brigade with just three regiments. The Finns destroyed the village of Suomussalmi to deny shelter to the Soviet troops, and the Soviets suffered serious losses while attempting to take the village on 8 December. On 24 December, the Soviets launched another failed counterattack against the Finns. In January 1940, the Finns launched a spectacular counterattack, dividing the Soviet 44th Rifle Division into isolated groups and destroying it on the Raate Road. The Finns emerged victorious, inflicting 29,600 losses on the Red Army with just 2,000 losses of their own.